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turn the kid into a drone.” His handsome face contorted with rage, Shedir lifted his hands from Doreen’s belly and clenched them into tight fists.
    Since he had given up his dreams of becoming a member of the Ruling Council and made Luna Ten his home, Nebula had noticed how Shedir had become openly critical of Federation policy. Pity. She believed the former captain of the Federation Star Command would have made a good member of the Ruling Council. A fair one. “Is this Conan still on Obsidion?”
    “Yes. Pak Song says he needs to make a few more adjustments to Conan’s bionic parts before he turns him loose. The old man’s a genius, but he’s incredibly picky when it comes to his work. So is his son, Pak Lin. When Conan is ready to leave, he will contact us. Either Guy or I will fly to Obsidion, pick him up and bring him here.”
    “When you do, I would like to go with you.” Nebula refused to let herself become too eager, too soon. Bionic or not, Conan was an Earthling, and the last Earthling male she’d offered herself to had told her he’d rather fuck a sexbot than spill his seed in a live female who’d been neutered.
    * * * * *
    Nebula went to the fucking glade alone, where she allowed herself to dream of having a mate. A companion to love and care for, to serve as Doreen and Cassie served Shedir and Guy. Perhaps her Master might actually love her as much as Brad, the colony’s founder, loved his beautiful A urora. Nebula wanted to become a Master’s slave and serve him the way the other women served their men on Luna Ten.
    She desperately wanted a mate, but she didn’t dare hope this Conan would be any different from the Earthling privateer who not too long ago had driven home the fact that love and companionship were not for her.
    But she still could want. She still could dream.
    In the fucking glade where lovers mated, Nebula slipped off her blue robe and let the sunshine warm her naked skin. The sweet smell of flowering fruit trees filled her nostrils and colorful birds chirped overhead. They didn’t care that she’d been altered, that she’d been marked since childhood for a life of loneliness, of servitude to those who had not been cursed with the mutant gene.
    This was not the first time she’d come here alone.
    She’d been naked that day, as she was now. The Earthling privateer had caught her unaware. The man hadn’t had Guy’s impressive presence or Shedir’s commanding good looks. In fact, he had looked quite ordinary. Unremarkable. Nebula had been sunning herself, drying off the water from the stream in which she’d bathed and combing tangles from the long, wavy hair that had veiled her body and hid her shame.
    The man had smiled at her, the smile of one who felt desire. Her nipples had tingled with the heat of his gaze. His cock had risen in silent salute. For the first time since learning about her defective gene, Nebula had felt whole.
    “Let me.” He’d taken the comb from her and run it through her hair. Then he’d bent and sucked first one nipple and then the other. “You are beautiful. You’re mine.”
    “No.” A warning had rung somewhere deep in Nebula’s head, but the pleasure of another human’s touch muted her protest. Her would-be lover had laid her over the fucking stone, as though to mate with her.
    Could he? Could he possibly want her, imperfect as she was? It seemed he did. His cock prodded her from behind, seeking her ass to claim her.
    She couldn’t let him, not until he knew. “I would welcome you as my mate, but I must tell you first that I have been sterilized. I had myself altered to prevent the spread of the mutant gene.”
    He had jerked away as though she’d burned him and rolled her onto her back. His gaze hung on the tattoo, her mark of shame. “Mate with the likes of you? I’d rather die. A nd I’d sooner fuck a sexbot than spill my seed in you. Mutant bitch.” A s he had whirled around and strode away, he’d spat out the word again and